CVEN3501 Water Resources Engineering Workshop 3: answers

Rainfall-Runoff Modelling Basics

Q1. Excess rainfall hyetograph

Remove losses first and then calculate weighted average. You will not get the correct answer if
you take the losses off after doing the weighted average.

Step1: Subtract initial loss: Initial loss = 18 mm

A (minus B (minus C (minus
Time
A (mm) B (mm) C (mm) initial loss) initial loss) initial loss)
(minutes)
(mm) A' (mm) B' (mm) C'
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 13 24 130 0 6 112
40 26 60 76 21 60 76
60 0 20 40 0 20 40
80 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thiessen
0.3 0.5 0.2
Weight

Step2: Subtract continuing loess, φ-index

φ-index of 27mm/hour = 9mm/ 20 minutes
Catchment average
A' (minus φ-index) (mm) B' (minus φ-index) (mm) C' (minus φ-index) (mm)
excess rainfall (mm)
0 0 0 0
0 0 103 20.6
12 51 67 42.5
0 11 31 11.7
0 0 0 0
SUM 74.8

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CVEN3501 Water Resources Engineering Workshop 3: answers

Q2. Direct runoff hydrograph and catchment area

Time (hours) Discharge (m3s-1) Direct runoff (m3s-1)
0 12 0
1 13 1
2 24 12
3 17 5
4 14 2
5 13 1
6 12 0
Volume
75600 m3
(area below hydrograph)

If total volume of direct runoff equals 75600 m3, the area of the catchment must equal this
divided by the total excess rainfall that fell on the catchment. Hence,

Catchment area = 75600/(74.8×10-3) = 1010695 m2 = 1.01 km2.

Q3. Depth of runoff

Excess Rainfall (mm)
Rainfall (mm)
Catchment area (%) -index (mm/hour) (Rainfall - -index)
1st hour 2nd hour 3rd hour 1st hour 2nd hour 3rd hour
20 12 8 23 15 0 11 3
30 8 7 21 12 0 13 4
50 5 10 29 9 5 24 4
Weighted excess rainfall
2.5 18.1* 3.8
(*e.g. 11x0.2+13x0.3+24x0.5 = 18.1mm)

Hence the depth of the runoff equals 2.5+18.1+3.8 = 24.4 mm.

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CVEN3501 Water Resources Engineering Workshop 3: answers

Q4. -index
• Area = 36 km2
• Volume = 900000 m3
• Depth = Area/Volume = 25mm

Hence -index is 38.5 mm, which makes 25mm of direct runoff depth with the rainfall given
Excess Rainfall (mm)
Time (h) -index (mm) Rainfall (mm)
(Rainfall - -index)
0 38.5 0 0
1 38.5 5 0
2 38.5 16 0
3 38.5 48 9.5
4 38.5 54 15.5
5 38.5 20 0
6 38.5 12 0
7 38.5 0 0
TOTAL 25

Q5. Time to ponding

Step1: Select Green-Ampt infiltration parameters for sandy-clay soil from Table 6.1 in the
lecture notes

Porosity ([eta]) = 0.430

Effective porosity (e) = 0.321
Wetting front soil suction head ([psi]) = 23.90 cm
Hydraulic conductivity (K) = 0.06 cm/h

Hence,
 = (1 - se) e = (1 – 0.4) (0.321) =0.193

And,
 = 0.193x23.90=4.60 cm

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CVEN3501 Water Resources Engineering Workshop 3: answers

Calculations for the Green-Ampt infiltration are presented in the table below.

Cum. Rainfall
Cum. Rainfall LHS RHS
Time Rainfall f(t) F(t) Rainfall Excess
Rainfall Intensity of of
(min) (cm) (cm/h) (cm) Excess Hyetograph
(cm) (cm/h) Eq.6.7 Eq.6.7
(cm) (cm)
0 0 0 1.08 0.000
10 0.18 0.18 1.26 1.594 0.180
20 0.21 0.39 1.56 0.768 0.390
30 0.26 0.65 1.92 0.679 0.503 0.113 0.113 0.15 0.15
40 0.32 0.97 2.22 0.581 0.600 0.097 0.097 0.37 0.22
50 0.37 1.34 2.58 0.491 0.682 0.082 0.082 0.66 0.29
60 0.43 1.77 3.84 0.444 0.756 0.074 0.074 1.01 0.36

Note that:
• Ponding starts between 20 and 30 minutes, hence the period during which ponding
occurs is t = 20 minutes to at-least t = 60 minutes.
• Infiltration rate prior to ponding is estimated using Eq. 6.3. It requires an assumption
that the cumulative infiltration Ft equals the cumulative rainfall. If the Infiltration rate is
estimated to be greater than the rainfall rate, this assumption is valid. If that is not the
case, we assume error is negligible for that time step, but switch to a different set of
calculations for subsequent time steps that correspond to case where ponding occurs.
• Infiltration rate during ponding is estimated based on the difference between the
cumulative infiltration at current and prior time step.
• Cumulative infiltration prior to ponding is estimated by adding infiltration for current
time step to cumulative infiltration at previous time step.
• Cumulative infiltration during ponding is estimated by Eq. 6.7. Since the cumulative
infiltration Ft+1 is present on both sides of Eq. 6.7, the calculations involve an iterative
procedure that is best done on a computer.
• In an exam setting where computers will not be available, a reasonable question on this
approach would be to estimate the time to ponding. The iterative calculations should
not be expected as part of a formal examination and are more for your reference and
future use.

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CVEN3501 Water Resources Engineering Workshop 3: answers

Q6. Direct runoff hydrograph

Excess Excess Direct
Time Rainfall Baseflow Storage Runoff
Rainfall rainfall RHS Runoff
(h) (mm) (m3s-1) (m3) (m3s-1)
(mm) (m3s-1) (m3s-1)
0.0 0 0 0.0 7 0 0.0 7.0
0.5 24 13 108.3 7 60302 97500 41.3 48.3
1.0 30 19 158.3 7 162725 263104 111.5 118.5
1.5 3 0 0.0 7 126694 204846 86.8 93.8
2.0 14 3 25.0 7 43938 71041 30.1 37.1
2.5 7 24328 39334 16.7 23.7
3.0 7 5765 9321 4.0 11.0
3.5 7 1366 2209 0.9 7.9
4.0 7 324 523 0.2 7.2
4.5 7 77 124 0.1 7.1
5.0 7 18 29 0.0 7.0
5.5 7 4 7 0.0 7.0
6.0 7 1 2 0.0 7.0

Note:
• Qt in Eq. 6.8-6.10 in the lecture notes refers to the direct runoff, which is estimated in
the second-last column.
• For row 2 (time 1 hour), the sequence of calculations is:
a) Estimate RHS using ST-ΔT = 0, IT-ΔT = 0, IT = 108.3, QT-ΔT = 0 and ΔT = 1800.
b) Substitute S~Q relationship in ST + QTΔT/2. This gives us the relation 1459QT +
QT×1800/2 = 2359QT = RHS.
c) Estimate QT = RHS/2359 = 41.3
d) Estimate ST = 1459QT = 60302
e) Estimate the total flow by adding baseflow to the direct runoff (7 + 41.3).
• Continue calculations until storage ST become small, implying that the direct runoff
starts assuming insignificant values.
140.0
120.0
100.0
Runoff(m3s-1)

80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
Time (hours)